Boating Safety for kids

[Gatto Nero]

I understand why children under 16 cannot get certified to opera ten boats with more than 25hp, but shouldn't there be a better way to educate them anyway? There are lots of kids out there on little boats and they should be allowed, if not mandated, to get the education, or a portion thereof, that everyone else must have.

I recently bought a 13' boat with a 25hp engine so that my kids could get some freedom and enjoy the lake on their own a little bit. They are not old enough to get the certification but before I let them go I wanted to make sure they understood the rules and how to behave nonetheless.

I had them read the entire safety booklet several times then I did the on-line practice test with them. I then had them drive me around and watched their decision making in differnet situations. As a final step my wife agreed to have them tag along when she took the classroom course. That is where I learned the most so I thought they would get more out of it than just reading the book and listening to me.

We called and were told they could attend and participate in everything but the final exam. That sounded reasonable so we went ahead and sent them. Unfortunately, that was not the case. They were allowed to sit and listen but they were not allowed to participate in any way. After the first night my daughter came home very dejected about the course. When the instructor asked a question of the class she raised her hand to answer but was told that she was too young to participate. After that she lost interest very quickly. She refused to even go the 2nd night and sit there silent for 3 1/2 hours. I didn't make her go because I didn't want to leave her with a bad taste for boating or the class.

Perhaps there are good reasons why they aren't really allowed to participate in an adult oriented class. Maybe some kids just aren't mature enough and would bring the class to a lower level. But if that's the case then maybe the state should consider a separate class just for them. After all, it's probably not all that important that they know the ins and outs of trailering anyway. A simplified course would take far less time and still allow them to understand the responsibility of operating a boat safely.

Just my 2 cents.